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Charles Harpur
Charles Harpur (23 January 1813 - 10 June 1868) was an Australian poet. Life Youth Harpur was born at Windsor, New South Wales, the 3rd child of Joseph Harpur — originally from Kinsale, co. Cork, Ireland, parish clerk and master of the Windsor district school — and Sarah (Chidley) from Somerset. (Both had been transported.) Harpur received his elementary education in Windsor. This was probably largely supplemented by private study; he was an eager reader of William Shakespeare. Harpur followed various avocations in the bush and for some years in his 20's held a clerical position at the post office in Sydney. Career In Sydney, he met Henry Parkes, Daniel Deniehy, Robert Lowe and W.A. Duncan, who in 1845 published Harpur's first little volume, Thoughts: A series of sonnets, which has since become very rare. Harpur had left Sydney 2 years before and was farming with a brother on the Hunter River. In 1850, he married Mary Doyle and engaged in sheep farming for some years with varying success. In 1853, he published The Bushrangers: a Play in Five Acts, and other poems. The play is a failure and contains some of Harpur's worst writing, but the volume included some of his best poems. In 1858, he was appointed gold commissioner at Araluen with a good salary. He held the position for 8 years, and also had a farm at Eurobodalla. Harpur found, however, that his duties prevented him from supervising the work on the farm and it became a bad investment. 2 verse pamphlets, A Poet's Home and The Tower of a Dream, appeared in 1862 and 1865 respectively. Death In 1866, Harpur's position was abolished at a time of retrenchment, and in March 1867 he had a great sorrow when his 2nd son was killed by the accidental discharge of his own gun. Harpur never recovered from the blow. He contracted tuberculosis in the hard winter of 1867, and died on 10 June 1868. He was survived by his wife, 2 sons, and 2 daughters. One of his daughters, writing many years later, mentioned that he had left his family an unencumbered farm and a well-furnished comfortable home. Writing Harpur was the first Australian poet worthy of the name. He is little read today and the tendency has been to under-rate him in comparison with other writers of the 19th century. He may have been influenced by William Wordsworth but he is not really a derivative poet, and his best work is excellent. A collected edition of Harpur's poems was not published until 1883. The unknown editor stated that he had "had to supply those final revisions which the author had been obliged to leave unmade". This work does not appear to have been well done, and several already published poems which needed no revision were not included. Recognition The manuscripts of Harpur's poems are at the Mitchell Library, Sydney, and a portrait is in the council chamber at Windsor. He is represented in several Australian anthologies. Publications Poetry *''Thoughts: A series of sonnets''. Sydney: W.A. Duncan, 1845. *''A Poet's Home''. Sydney: 1862. *''The Tower of the Dream''. Sydney & Melbourne: Clarson, Shallard, 1865. *''Poems. Melbourne: G. Robertson, 1883. *''Selected Poems of Charles Harpur (edited by Kenneth Harril Gifford & Donald F. Hall). Melbourne: Arura Writers, 1944. *''"Rosa": Love Sonnets to Mary Doyle''. Melbourne, London, & New York: Hutchinson, 1948. *''Charles Harpur'' (selected & with introduction by Donovan Clarke). Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1963. *''Early Love Poems''. Canberra: Mulini, 1979. *''The Poetical Works of Charles Harpur'' (edited by Elizabeth Perkins). Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1984. *''A Storm in the Mountains'' / Lost in the Bush. Canberra: Mulini, 2006. Plays *''The Bushrangers: A play in five acts; and other poems''. Sydney: Piddington, 1853. *''Stalwart the Bushranger; with The tragedy of Donohue''. Sydney: Currency Press, 1987. Collected editions *''Selected Poetry and Prose'' (edited by Michael Ackland). Ringwood, Vic: Penguin, 1986. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Charles Harpur, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Aug. 24, 2013. See also * List of Australian poets References * *J. Normington-Rawling, 'Harpur, Charles (1813 - 1868)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp 514-515. Notes External links ;Poems *Harpur in A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895: "A Midsummer’s Noon in the Australian Forest," "An Aboriginal Mother’s Lament" * Charles Harpur at Sonnet Central (4 sonnets) * Charles Harpur at Rhymes Rudely Strung * Charles Harpur (1813–1868) in the Australian Poetry Library (79 poems) * Charles Harpur at PoemHunter (122 poems) *Charles Harpur at Poetry Nook (124 poems) *Poems in the Charles Harpur Critical Archive ;Books * The Bushrangers: A play in five acts at University of Sydney Library. * Poems at University of Sydney Library ;Audio / video *Charles Harpur at YouTube ;About * Harpur, Charles (1813–1868) in the Australian Dictionary of Biography * Charles Harpur in the Cambridge History of English and American Literature *The Charles Harpur Critical Archive Category:1813 births Category:1868 deaths Category:Australian poets Category:19th-century poets Category:Poets Category:Sonneteers Category:English-language poets